The fiscal year (FY) 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, passed by Congress at the end of December, includes a provision allowing states to use federal-aid highway funding that was previously earmarked for specific projects to be used for other projects located nearby. Specifically, the provision allows states to transfer funding authority from projects that had funds earmarked 10 or more years ago but have used less than 10 percent of their dedicated funds, to other projects within a 50 mile radius. The Federal Highway Administration reports that Congress has allocated funding for more than 6,700 projects that was never used. Of that number, approximately 1,300 projects meet the 10 year/10 percent requirement with approximately $2.1 billion in funding still available. According to the Eno Transportation Weekly publication, the $2.1 billion of budget authority for highway projects will result in $500 million in new outlays in fiscal year 2016 and another $1.4 billion over the following seven years. States have up to three years to reprogram the earmarked funds or they are lost forever.
Congressional earmarks have long been included in both the transportation authorization legislation and annual appropriations measures. The language allocating these funds usually specifies that they are available for that project until expended. Over the years, the amount of unused, earmarked funds has grown because the project may not be on a state’s priority list, the earmark may not provide enough funding to cover the cost of the construction or states may not have matching funds. The Federal Highway Administration will soon be issuing guidance to state Departments of Transportation on how to utilize these available funds.
For more information, please contact Brian Deery at deeryb@agc.org or (703) 837-5319.